To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you."- New American Standard Version (1995)

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception; in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.- American Standard Version (1901)

To the woman he said, Great will be your pain in childbirth; in sorrow will your children come to birth; still your desire will be for your husband, but he will be your master.- Basic English Bible

To the woman he said, I will greatly increase thy travail and thy pregnancy; with pain thou shalt bear children; and to thy husband shall be thy desire, and he shall rule over thee.- Darby Bible

To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children: and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. - Webster's Bible

To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."- World English Bible

Wesley's Notes for Genesis 3:16

3:16 We have here the sentence past upon the woman; she is condemned to a state of sorrow and a state of subjection: proper punishments of a sin in which she had gratified her pleasure and her pride. She is here put into a state of sorrow; one particular of which only is instanced in, that in bringing forth children, but it includes all those impressions of grief and fear which the mind of that tender sex is most apt to receive, and all the common calamities which they are liable to. It is God that multiplies our sorrows, I will do it: God, as a righteous Judge, doth it, which ought to silence us under all our sorrows; as many as they are we have deserved them all, and more: nay, God as a tender Father doth it for our necessary correction, that we may be humbled for sin, and weaned from it. She is here put into a state of subjection: the whole sex, which by creation was equal with man, is for sin made inferior.

Comments for Genesis 3:16

Bro Ronald Sam's comment on 2014-12-16 12:14:20:

Gods covenant for a woman

Jermaine's comment on 2014-10-14 08:50:17:

whatever God says is law

Pamela's comment on 2014-05-12 18:29:31:

in the begining

Dana's comment on 2014-02-22 08:25:50:

I remember a documentary I saw by some lady Elizabeth cannot remember the Surname She said the word for Virgin and Young girl was the same in ancient Aramaic Could it be the translators of the text decided on the former meaning as it suited their agenda more I know in Slavic the word for wife and woman is the same word Zena and it s interesting that the Turkish word for Harem is Zenana Genesis tells us of the Sons of God finding daughters of of Man attractive and breeding with them Are they fallen Angels I m still confused by Nephilim who were on Earth at the time Genesis also says the pain of birth will be greater after this Is this due to inbreeding with a species with a larger brain I gave birth twice and I know the most painful part of birthing is the size of the human brain Before the Sons of God came into the daughters of men maybe humans were Neanderthal and given the brain size child bearing was less painful I still have no idea who the Nephilim were

A L Harrison's comment on 2013-09-23 16:44:09:

the word of GOd is right from the begining to the end. If GOD said that the husband should rule over his wife, then it is just what it is. The word says also that the husband should rule his wife as christ ruled and rules the church. To know your job as a husband, find out about christ and his job as savior.

Trent's comment on 2011-09-19 23:36:09:

It's verses like this that make me know the Bible is true. There's no way someone would think to make up such random explanations, like a woman believing a lie, getting caught, then women will be cursed the rest of her life in childbearing. Fast forward to today and what do you know, women have massive, almost unnatural pain in childbirth- very inconsistent with the rest of the animal kingdom, which does not experience that level of pain. Those animals are operating as originally designed, with no pain. How would an atheist explain such coincidences that align with a 2,000 - 3,000 year old writing (the Bible) that explains life so well? And some snakes have visible places on their body where legs used to be- that also fits the scripture precisely. And knowledge of good and evil tied to nakedness. There's no way someone could make something like this up and have everything described be so true and accurate today.

James's comment on 2011-07-26 14:00:45:

I think a lot of people misunderstand the bible and a lot of its scriptures. As the Pastor said this has played out to be true how many women do you know with three or four kids who can barely afford to feed them? Where I come from there are many many women like that, we are headed to damnation at an alarming rate and a lot of the population doesn't seem to care. Mass amounts have turned their back to God and it is sad that HE isn't allowed in our schools anymore but when the wolf howls at the door EVERYONE is quick to jump to what's known as 911 prayers it's a sad world that we live in!

PASTOR WILLIE THOMPSON's comment on 2011-07-05 06:15:55:

I LOVE THE TRUTH:GEN.3:16 IS THE TRUTH THAT IS SHOWN IN OUR LIVES DAILY..
WOMEN HAVING SORROWS IN CHILD BEARING, HER CONCEPTIONS ARE GREATLY MULTIPLIED CAUSING THE
WORLD TO BE OVER POPULATED, WHICH CAUSES HUNGER
AND DISEASES.

SIN IS SO VERY, VERY,VERY,UGLY: YET WE STILL
ENJOY LIVING IN IT.
EVEN THOSE WHO SAY THEY BELIEVE IN GOD AND JESUS

IT'S UNBELIEVABLE HOW PEOPLE CHOOSE TO LIVE IN
SIN AND SEE THE BAD CONSEQUENCES IT BRINGS TO
THEM.

Fluffy's comment on 2010-11-24 22:39:03:

Good thing "God" gave us the intelligence to create the Epidural as well as to enact laws that Protect and Empower women. BTW, My childbirths were amazing events for me AND my husband, who adores me and considers me his equal partner. I guess things have changed in 3000 +/- years :)

Michelle's comment on 2010-03-21 22:38:34:

How can 3 versions of the bible (KJ, NIV, & The Message) all say the same thing; woman will desire for their husband, and the NLT says that woman desired to control her husband?